We got up at 8 am on a Saturday, we had a 10 am appointment to view a used Austin Powers Pinball machine in Woodbridge, a big Italian suburb of Toronto. I'd never been to Woodbridge, just knew every Italian I know here tell me that's were they live.
Alice, Reid and I went and it was a beautiful day, I had all but forgotten what a nice sunny Saturday looked like, it's been so long. It was an awesome day. The guy was on his driveway and was definitely Italian with the name Tony and the shirt open enough that you could see the edges of a big gold chain. He was a friendly guy with a bit of an edge. I later found out he would do some part-time "collections" for his friends. He made it sound legit. I wasn't so sure.
Much of the stuff in his basement was from collections. He had barber chairs, a coin operated pool table, slot machine, bar with lots of booze displayed, espresso machine and all the man cave stuff. As we walked though his house to get to the basement it was all marble floors. Take Tony Montana's house from the movie Scarface, envision all the high-end marble and wood in a 20,000 square foot mansion and then shrink it into a 2500 square foot house. The Italians sure like their marble and ornate white outdoor railings. By far the best things I loved in his house was his barber chairs, they were awesome, nicest I've ever seen.
The pinball machine was pretty beat up and more importantly it wasn't that interesting to play. It didn't take long to get bored with it and I realized that most important part of a pinball machine is the playing surface and having something that keeps it interesting. I told Tony we'd get back to him.
On the way home we stopped at the Palladium, they sell new machines and all sorts of awesome man cave crap, pool tables, card tables, juke boxes, ping pong tables, etc. They carried new machines, what a difference. The feel and games are way better than used and cost about $4800. We decided on the spot that we are going to buy new instead. Now we just have to figure out which machine and take our time.
I'm also looking for a new slot machine. I have an authentic Japanese one that I bought off Ebay about 5 years ago, it works well and only takes tokens. I want a real one that takes Canadian money and can play penny or nickel slots. That way people can put real money in and win real money. It's always more fun when real money is at stake and you can win real money. I found a guy nearby that sells then and we've been talking via email. It will cost about $1200 and it even takes Canadian bills. It's the real thing, right from a Canadian Casino.
This morning before our adventure to Woodbridge I felt terrible, I shouldn't have smoked a cigar last night. To celebrate with Jamie and Barb over the purchase of their new house I had a few beers and a cigar. With me training so hard and being so clean, the smoke really hit me. For most of the night after they left I wasn't feeling good and even when I woke up I felt my heart rate elevated. Mental note, beer in moderation okay before a race, cigars a no no.
In hindsight and if I remember for future, I'm not going to have a cigar before an Ironman. I was worried that I was self-sabotaging myself. Those days of self-sabotage are over. It's freeze frame the movie, turn it into a black and white image and through the photo over my shoulder time.
Today was a super important ride and I'd been mentally preparing myself for it all week. It was a 3:30 long ride and I wanted to make it the highest quality of rides. I didn't want to mail this one in. My plan was to ride as hard as I could and keep my heart rate under 143 bpm. I wanted to see if I could get back to my old form. This year my average paces have been in the 26-28 kph averages.
When I got back from Woodbridge I took it easy and even slept a little. I wanted to try and give my body more recover time before my ride. That was one reason I was pissed for having a cigar, I wanted to be 100% before this ride. At 2 pm I strapped on the heart rate monitor, it said 53 bpm and I knew I was ready.
Out the door I kept it at just under 143 bpm and was totally focused to not let up, which I didn't. I did my Cambridge out and back and if there was a cyclist in front of me, I caught and passed them today. I had a 10 kph back and side wind on the way there and reverse on the way back. I got to the half way point averaging 33.9 kph, which is really good considering that included my climbing up Number one side road hills.
On the way back I caught up to another good cyclist. I could tell he wanted to talk a little. I was friendly, tried to talk a little to be nice. I told him I was focused on heart rate and in final training and normally I'm more chatty. I spoke to him a little when we had to stop to cross the busy number 6 highway. Too bad, he seemed like a real nice guy.
At the 2:40 mark the wheels started failing off. Yesterday screwed me up. I got off my diet and didn't eat much and then drank beer. I was starving today at noon and even before my ride was thirsty, even though I drank a lot of water, and was hungry, even though I ate. At 2:40 into the ride my stomach was empty and my heart light was dimming and my heart rate plummeted. It was hard for me to keep it over 120 bpm no matter how hard I pushed. I knew I needed food. I wasn't bonking, it was a weirder sensation, I was going into a mentally altered state, more of an out of body experience. I was desperate for food and went off course to a bakery-deli nearby and had pasta, apple juice and a muffin.
It helped BIG TIME. Within 20 minutes my mind was back to normal and even though my legs were major pumped and sore from riding hard I was still able to push it again and get my heart rate up to 143 bpm. Which I did for the rest of the ride home into the wind. I ended up averaging 32.5 kph over 116 kms. I was really happy with that. I don't think I've ever done a training ride in the Escarpment that fast and my fastest ever was 32.8 kph for 7 hours in Palm Springs during the Tour de Palm Springs last year with lots of food stops along the way.
This was easily one of the most quality riding workouts I've ever done in Ontario. It was at the heart rate I'm supposed to Ironman race at. When I got home my legs were sore like I've never felt them after a bike ride. They felt more like I did a 30 km run more than a bike ride. I've never had that sensation from riding before. It took me 4-years of training to find out that I can feel this way off a bike. After a stretch and shower on when the compression tights.
The rest of the night I ate. I had the calories at the bakery and then recoverite and whey when I got home and then Alice and I went for dinner to Boston Pizza and I had a Greek salad and pasta and about 8 large glasses of diet coke before dessert of a McDonald's Mocha coffee. When we got home I snacked a little on fruit and baby carrots as we watched the UFC pay per view. I took my tape measure to Boston Pizza to measure the foot rail, it was a little higher than mine by about 2", it was 7" high.
I must say this has been a strange month of training. In the 30 days of April I've taken 13 rest days and still managed to train 1170 km's. Not far off most of my high mileage months. It will be very interesting to see how the rest will effect my Ironman performance next week. I do like the way I'm able to walk like a normal person and not shuffle out of bed and down the stairs like I did last year. I'm also really happy with the weight, I'm between 184 - 185 lbs. I can't believe a couple of months ago I was up to 191-192 lbs. I'm proud that I was able to reverse that and can tell you I'm never wanting to go over 185 lbs again. I'd really like to never go over 183 lbs again. I feel so much better now, mentally.
I've got 6-days until IMSG and need to get two or three more swims in. Monday will be my last real speed-tempo workout and then moderate sessions on Wednesday and rest until Saturday. It will be very interesting to see how my plan works. I'm now also focusing on eating well and sleeping. I don't want to do anything that will over stress my body and cause any illness. I'm told that St George may be in the low 90's on race day. Perfect. If it is, I can guarantee you with the difficulty of that course there will be lots of carnage along the road. One thing my ride today taught me was to eat on the bike and my biking legs are not what they used to be (yet) and not to go out too hard.
Oh, I've been getting some emails from Mr. Fancy Pants Grant as he's traveling first class to Spain with the family for vacation. He was drinking his champagne and eating his first class meals. It was fun to see what he was going to be eating and drinking next. Although I must say my ride and bakery food was so epic I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world, it's not something I think I'll ever forget.
I can tell Alyssa is off school, she's back working out and did the elliptical this morning. I also hired her to run the Caricature Toons sites this summer. I'm going to give her $1000 per month and 25% of the gross sales and I'm going to leave her alone, other than questions she has. I'm curious to see how she does in growing the sites on her own. We're launching a generic Caricature Toons site for everyone, not just triathletes.
Finally, before I went to bed last night I got a phone call from my brother Bob, drunk of course. He had me on speaker phone with Darlene and his friend on the other line. He did the same thing last week with more people on the line. He caught me sober again and had been building me up as this super funny guy when he gets drinking. The only reason I picked up the phone was because I thought it was him only and I'd be able to get to hear more about what's going on with him. He'll tell the truth when he's drunk.
Instead it was a serious conversation with him and a friend of his he calls Scotty, who is from Ontario and moved from Carslile 4 years ago. The bakery I stopped at today was in Carslile. I asked him why the hell he's even in Winnipeg? He agreed, other than people like to get drunk and have fun. Like my brother he's out of work, unlike my brother he had a number of years making over $700,000 per year and recently bought a house in Florida. We all spoke and I told my brother to get a sales job, my brother still is thinking of owning a business. I told him that after the age of 40 it should be all about wealth preservation and take no risks. I suggested he do what I do, just sell and not have to deal with banks, employees and all the hassles that come with owing a business. I told my brother the only reason he's even thinking of owning a business is because of his ego.
Without saying it, Darlene, Scott and I know everything about Bob's warts and pimples and ultimately like and want to help the guy. Darlene is his girlfriend and drinking buddy. Bob's still talking like a know it all and I gave him the advice I've been giving him about taking it easy, collecting his thoughts and not doing anything to rash. I wanted to say it in front of the others and that's how the conversation was serious in tone. It seems like "Scotty" has been giving Bob the same advice and it taking it himself. He hasn't worked in 3-months and is trying to figure his future out for himself. I told him the first thing he needs to do is move back to Ontario. He agreed, but like the Winnipeg community.
I spoke to Darlene and we're going to try to set something up for Darlene and Bob to come visit in June. It should be fun. I love talking with Bob, he repeats the same joke over and over again even in the same paragraph. He kept saying to Scotty, "he's normally really funny" and "Bryan, we've known each other for a long time, we've been through thick and thin, etc, etc, etc.....and I still think you're an A$$hole", jokingly. He used that joke 3 or 4 times in 3 minutes. That's my bro.
He also mentioned that he saw my Dad at Perkins and pretended he didn't see him. He also got a call from my dad, a voice mail briefly asking how things were going. Bob's no fool, he knows that my dad was calling all the other shareholders prior and dissing on Bob and then the old man calls like he cares. He's such a phony that way. Like I've said before, "he cares more about being liked by others than loved by his own family".
I decided on my run yesterday that I'm going to send my mom some flowers for mothers day. I've kind of cut off communication with her because she's taken my Dad's side and hadn't done what good mothers do by trying to resolve family issues. I figured she didn't do anything to me like him. She may be crazy but she's always been supportive, unlike the old man that in the eye of the storm lets you hang out to dry. I feel good about making that decision. I have no regrets of not talking to the old man, it's up to him to apologize to me and if he never does, ce la vie.
Long Bike - 3:35:02 / 116.5 / 32.5 avg kph
April Totals
Swim - 12.5 km
Bike - 952 km
Run - 207.32 km
Weights - 1 session
Total - 1171.82 kms
Calories - 49,665
Hours - 57.67
(13 Rest Days)
March Totals
Swim - 12.4 km
Bike - 555.59 km
Run - 114.81 km
Weights - 5 sessions
Total - 682.80 km
Calories - 31766
Hours - 38.78
(Calf Injury)
3 comments:
I have a feeling the rest days have made a HUGE difference this time around, like I said, can't wait to see how the race unfolds.
I have finally been taking my rest days as well. Can't keep pushing the machine without letting it rebuild!
Loving the bar foot rail, looks glam and really sets the place off beautifully.
Good call sending your Mum flowers on Mother's Day, I highly approve.
M, I hope your right, I am still a little, er, a lot nervous about the bike. I keep having to remind myself I'm there to finish not race. I'm starting to become a big believer in rest days, I can't believe you can still train for IM's and not have to shuffle down the stairs with rest. haha.
S, thanks on all counts.
B
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